#Fly the Lightning | Alpha FLTA004

1142 messages · Page 2 of 2 (latest)

royal spindle
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Have the orbital elements started changing since yesterday? I haven't seen any movement on SMA to indicate a thruster has been firing

bleak sentinel
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Nope literally nothing is happening

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Just more sliding

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Ironic how this was supposed to demonstrate an antenna that could be rapidly checked out and it’s taking a lot of time to do anything

royal spindle
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Well the EP system will also take a while to commission. First you need to run the PPU and make sure that everything is working properly and nothing is browning out

Once they do start firing EP, it'll take at least a day to commission until they can run at full power. Then the cathode needs to burn in, so they'll be getting wonky thrust output until everything settles out

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On PPE, we have a 7 day checkout period before we start full throttle EP thrusting. 4 days of that are just bus systems, with EP commissioning happening over a 3 day period

grave mirage
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I'd give it 7 days before they can't recover it to a usable orbit

royal spindle
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Based on the analysis I did earlier, they have a good bit longer than 7 days. They really don't catch much drag at their perigee altitude

grave mirage
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What is their perigee altitude at the moment?

zinc patio
royal spindle
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The low perigee passes will primarily degrade apogee

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They've lost ~30km SMA over 7 days

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Interesting to see that they've had more tracking passes these last two days, hopefully an indication that they're going to start operating the thruster soon

bleak sentinel
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yeah ussf seems to be paying a lot more attention recently

royal spindle
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Right, that should be a good sign

royal spindle
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Another 3 tracking passes last night into this morning

grave mirage
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Doesn't look like they've used any propulsion since the 28th

royal spindle
grave mirage
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Ah

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So everything has been constant since orbital insertion?

royal spindle
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Yup

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Doesn't look like the vehicle has done any thrusting with the primary propulsion system

grave mirage
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Looks about right. Has LM published dimensions of the payload?

royal spindle
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Yeah someone posted them here if you scroll back far enough. I used those bus dimensions to get a cross sectional area for drag in my analysis

sly shard
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If they manage to recover, it will be THE comeback ever

royal spindle
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Honestly it won't be all that impressive

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There's been a couple GEO missions that have overcome A LOT of launch vehicle and stage failures

grave mirage
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LM is very heavily insured, loss of the payload wouldn't be that damaging

royal spindle
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It's a cheap, pretty meaningless smallsat

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LM won't care much

native summit
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Inb4 they get more by losing it

bleak sentinel
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infinite money glitch

bleak sentinel
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ok one notable development: the upper stage is getting less tracking passes than the sat

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otherwise just more of the same

royal spindle
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They could also be increasing tracking for conjunction reasons

royal spindle
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Looks like USSF switched the ID's again

zinc patio
royal spindle
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That, I do not know

bleak sentinel
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They did a very fast pair of measurements again

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Is this a thing they do normally

royal spindle
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"very fast" in this case is likely on successive revolutions

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And yeah they do this normally, while a ground asset is tasked to track a specific vehicle they'll get as many measurements as they can before that time allotment is up

bleak sentinel
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No I mean switching the top stage and the payload

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Not repeat passes

royal spindle
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Ah, no this is strange. Idk why they're doing this

grave mirage
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Expensive accident?

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Has LM made any press releases yet?

bleak sentinel
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wtf they switched the payload back to original but the corresponding upper stage measurement hasnt changed back

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so now theyre both at the same place

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wtf ussf

toxic merlin
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ussf doing a little trolling

bleak sentinel
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now they swithed the payload id to the stage data

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so now the ids are just swapped

sly shard
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Is it dead yet

vital pasture
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Perigee almost same but apogee was down from 520+

sly shard
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Thanks, any predictions for how much longer it’s got?

golden garnet
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The second stage 1-2 weeks.

toxic merlin
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I’m actually surprised the sat never attempted to do an orbit raise

royal spindle
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Same

sly shard
royal spindle
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Even if that's true, any amount of firing will increase lifetime

sly shard
bleak sentinel
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Bruhhhh

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Oh wait it seems they were messed up from the start

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That’s so funny ussf thank you

toxic merlin
grave mirage
royal spindle
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Not really worth trying to guess why the mission team is or isn't doing something that would show up in state histories when we have no insight into mission objectives, priorities, or future ops plans.

grave mirage
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It was an experimental payload to test IR lasers through the atmosphere to accompany data streams to moving US fighters and bombers

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They probably only had to get 1 successful data tether

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Just as a proof of concept

sly shard
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Anything new?

zinc patio
sly shard
toxic merlin
sly shard
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Well that’s definitely new

toxic merlin
zinc patio
grave mirage
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Talked with a LM engineer, they gave up on trying to raise orbit at all, unknown if mission objectives were completed, they might boost to confirm a safe reentry area, if absolutely necessary, but it's safe to expect reentry as currently estimated

native summit
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Sad

sly shard
zinc patio
toxic merlin
livid garden
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firefly

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more like

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failfly

zinc patio
leaden dove
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@zinc patio did some more editing

IMG_1807.jpg IMG_1828.jpg IMG_1832.jpg
keen abyss
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They all look sick tho!

leaden dove
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thank youuuu

toxic merlin
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@zinc patio

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Bob Behnken, director of technology acceleration at Lockheed Martin Space, told SpaceNews in a statement that the company’s antenna technology demonstration payload “exceeded our expectations and successfully completed all primary mission objectives.

marble drum
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oh so that’s where behnken went

zinc patio
wild surge
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the wording of the article title makes it seem like LM just forgot where they put their satellite lol

sly shard
grave mirage
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Confirmed with LM a few days ago that one of the primary objectives was to achieve orbit (stability unspecified)

golden garnet
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Re-entry of Tantrum is currently expected for tomorrow evening (US time).

sly shard
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Where is it expected to reenter?

golden garnet
sly shard
golden garnet
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Considering that that is half of the Earth, yes

grave mirage
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Bombing north korea with space metal?

sly shard
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As long as it doesn’t hit the innocent citizens, I’m alright with that, if it hits kimmy boy, im alright with that

obtuse vortex
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I’ve never met an innocent citizen

buoyant garden
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I hope it hits Ryan

golden garnet
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The window has shrunk and moved considerably since yesterday. If this trend continues, possible re-entry over Indonesia/Australia.

image.png
grave mirage
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It on fire yet?

obtuse vortex
sly shard
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I hope it hits nominal

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This one

IMG_8661.png
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I’ll give anything

jovial valley
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ominal

vital pasture
zinc patio
sly shard
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He’s also banned from this server I think

vital pasture
sly shard
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Yeah he thinks he’s so deep. Like all of his thoughts are so thought provoking and worth everyone’s attention

livid garden
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deep

ripe rapids
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titre

keen abyss
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Righ

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Please

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Someone telld

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Im not annoying

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I only, speak my mind

sly shard
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We’re all annoying sometimes

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Most of the time you’re alright though

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If I ever act like nominal though, tell me please so I can slap myself

tropic spindle
tropic spindle
sly shard
vital pasture
sly shard
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🫡

ripe rapids
grave mirage
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Tantrum was the weirdest satellite I ever heard a data stream from